What an exciting day. We’ve been outside watching the concrete be poured on to the top court. We were fascinated by the big truck that pumped all that sludgy concrete over the top of the library and down a tube onto the courts. We loved the way it moved and the squelchy sounds it made so much that we were inspired to write a poem about it!

We looked at the tukutuku panels that are either side of the entrance to the hall and used them as ideas for our own designs on our midoel wharenui. Just goes to prove you don’t have to go far to find amazing things to get your creative juices flowing!

Challenge:How many words with the suffix -ness (which turns verbs into nouns) can you add to our google doc?

We came up with ten questions with Room 10 buddies to ask a very important person who was in class. Then they asked our VIP - our Room 18 buddy - all about themselves. Finally we worked together to write down 3 things we had learnt about our new buddy. We really enjoyed being the grown up role model!

Another busy week over. We’re moving along at a cracking pace. We’ve checked through our recounts to see if we have all the right ingredients in the right places. We’re now embarking on poetry writing…..

We’ve learned all about the parts of a wharenui – what their names are and what they represent. We’re also tackling fractions! Remember: “Fractions are your friends!”

Challenge:How many words with the suffix –less (meaning without) can you add to our google doc?

We didn't let the rain dampen our spirits. We brought the leaves inside an investigated their colours, texture and how they moved. Nature then provided us with a fantastic show outside the classroom window as the wind blew the leaves on the trees and a few loose ones floated down. We've collected loads of ideas now and will be turning them into beautiful poetry over the next few days!

We’re definitely back in the swing of things with our routines running smoothly and our self-management skills coming to the fore.

We are well into our new books in reading, visualising what’s happening and inferring what this means for the characters and the plot. Our first piece of writing is complete and we’re checking we’ve included all the vital ingredients to make it interesting and engaging for our reader. Our mathematical knowledge of the number system is expanding and being put to good use and we’ve begun our journey to explore the language and protocols of a marae visit. Phew!

Challenge:How many words with the suffix –ful (meaning full of …) can you add to our google doc?

Welcome back. I hope you had a lovely holiday and enjoyed spending time with your children.

We’re back into it with a vengeance. This term our topic will prepare us to visit Omaka Marae (more details to follow). We will continue our reading programme, focusing on what clues the texts give us that help us to picture what is happening. In writing, we will be looking at descriptions and poetry.

We also have a new focus for our challenges. To help expand our vocabulary, we’re going to investigated prefixes and suffixes. As many of us have a writing goal to add adverbs, we’ll start this week with –ly .

Challenge:How many words with the suffix –ly can you add to our google doc?